Personality Types/Myers Briggs & Living Overseas

[RecoveringPerfectionist]

I just wondered whether anyone else has done this test or just given thought to their personality in terms of where they live and whether they move around a lot etc.

I've been trying to tell myself to STFU and get on with life back here in the UK. But SE Asia was my/our first move overseas and I feel it flipped a switch.

I did the Myers Briggs test as part of the degree I'm studying and it was fascinating. It talked about my "type" living in the here and now, and an impulse to be free; it says that if we repress that we can feel dead inside and "may eventually cut and run". It could all be as hocus pocus as horoscopes but I found that fascinating as it does fit with how I feel.

It also says that I like being in busy places but on the sidelines so am suited to city/town living. This is a recent revelation as I grew up in the sticks and never had the opportunity to experience city/town living until my late 20s but again it resonates.

I guess it partly comes down to the nature/nurture thing but it's liberating in a way to think that these feelings I have about struggling to feel settled may be part of who I am rather than as a result of the fall out from our one experience of living overseas. It doesn't help much though as the feelings are still there either way!

Does anyone else relate to this?! I wonder if those on expat packages who move when and where the company dictates have sought that life out because it suits them? Although I suppose if you married someone like that, but aren't like that yourself it could make life very difficult.

Interesting! I've never considered a link but I'm a borderline I/ENFP and I've moved around a LOT since leaving home at 17, including several international moves!
What MB type are you?

Oh and incidentally, my husband is the same as me - on both counts!

I'm borderline (I would be wouldn't I!). Either ISFP or INFP. I think I relate more to the latter.

This is a good site for descriptions:-

www.truity.com/view/types

I'm infp/j. Borderline f though. Interesting. Know what I don't want rather than what I do want iyswim. So I wonder if it's that constant looking and curiosity that's driving our moves.

That's 3/3 INFPs so far! Interesting

I am borderline INFP/ISFP as well, as is DH. We're on our second international move. Interesting.

Maybe just us types just prefer internet forums to real life/people ;-)

I have anti bodies against the Myers-Briggs as it's based on poor science and poor stats. In my view it's no better than the daily horoscope you can read in the Daily Mail. It has little validity in that repeat testing can yield completely different results even when people are being absolutely honest in their answers.

I've done various tests a number of times over a number of years... always the same result (INTJ). The idea is that it is only a basic tendency, so you can/do behave differently in different contexts. If your basic tendency is to be fairly balanced then the results probably would vary. I'm a bit of an extremist ;)

I - well, that certainly explains the internet use!

J - I should be a planner, but the most important decisions in my life (including moving overseas) have been a result of giving up plans in favour of 'see what happens'! When I can't see a next step forward or don't know what I want/what my goal is. But in day-to-day life I'm a planner.

It has helped me think about my preferences/comfort zones/habits etc.